Shaping the Past for a Better Future
by LoveForHarryPotter
Summary: The future is bleak. We lost the war. Its time to change the past and re-shape the future with a few familiar books. Will we be able to change the past and will Voldemort be defeated once and for all? Harry/?
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**

**New and improved version of prologue! Hope this is better!**

**Prologue:**

**2010:**

My name is Theodore Remus Lupin and my friends and I need help. Thirteen years ago, darkness engulfed the magical world as the Dark Lord ruled mercilessly. We have only one hope. Harry Potter.

11 years ago, Harry Potter was destined to conquer the Dark Lord. He failed.

We live under constant surveillance. Our every word is to be questioned. Our every move monitored. We, the orphaned children of the Heroes killed, have carefully devised a plan. Our plan has taken years to weave and create almost undetectably so that it lands precisely in the time where it will do the most good.

If our plan works then the Dark Lord's reign will end and a new era will begin. This plan has cost the lives of many. We are the only remaining light members alive and that will, hopefully, soon change, bringing back the lives of our comrades in a parallel universe if you will.

Our plan is simple. We are to send back 6 books to the past. After these books are read, a list should appear detailing the names of the main tragedies in the Second World War. If they do not believe the book to be true, we will send the list back earlier. If we do this then at the end of the sixth book, a list of mistakes made will be sent bag as soon as the book is read. We hope that past mistakes will be corrected and our future will have hope.

We can only pray our plan works.

**1995:**

Delores Jane Umbridge was many things. She was cruel, manipulative and evil. This is why when seven books with the name Harry Potter appeared in her office she did not hesitate to request all students to report to the Great Hall along with the staff.

"Staff and students, today whilst searching my office for my lesson plans I came across several books with interesting titles. They are titled "Harry Potter books 1 through 7. If my deductions skills are correct then these books are about Mr Potter's life throughout his Hogwarts school years. We will be reading these books over the course of the next month. During that month classes are cancelled!"

Immediately cries of outrage filled the hall.

"You can't do that!" Ron shouted loudly, outraged that his best friend's private life would be publically revealed like this.

"Great! We get to read about perfect Potter's life!" Malfoy sneered out, secretly wondering whether he would have to read about Potter's home life where he, surely, is treated like a Prince!

"I knew it! The nargels have invaded your mind! You must be treated immediately" cried Luna excitedly as she wished to get a glimpse at the flimsy creatures that always seemed to evade her grasp.

Taking advantage of the stunned silence the hall had created after Luna's comment Umbridge yelled "We will be reading these books no matter what any of you say! I shall begin, **Chapter 1** **The boy-who-lived …**"

_**AN**_

_**I hope this chapter now has more of the detail that some reviewers were looking for! **_

_**If anyone has any suggestions or reading the books fics that are finished or regularly updated please PM me or tell me in a review.**_

_**Ta! X**_

_**LFHP**_


	2. The boywholived

_**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter**_

_**AN: I would like to thank all reviewers for their criticisms and advice for my story.**_

_**GreatOuse I would like to tell you that I have taken all of your criticism on board and fully intend to add more detail to the prologue once I have added a few more chapters to this story. After re-reading the prologue, I have only just realised how much lack of detail there is within it. I hope this mistake does not put you off reading my stories.**_

_**Chapter 1: The boy who lived**_

As the high inquisitor opened her toad-like mouth, the doors of the great hall opened revealing the Weasley family (including Percy), Tonks, Mad-eye Moody, Remus Lupin and his dog and Minster Fudge along with DMLE head Madam Amelia Bones.

"We received your patronus message and came as soon as we could Albus." Madam Bones stated wearily.

Rising to his feet, Professor Dumbledore spreads his hands and says "Thank you for coming please take a seat anywhere."

After everyone is settled, Umbridge clears her throat and begins to read.

_**Chapter 1**_

_**Mr and Mrs Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.**_

"Normal? Who wants to be normal?" questioned the Weasley twins in sync.

_**They were the last people you would expect to be involved in anything strange or mysterious, because they just did not uphold such nonsense.**_

"Neither do we. Do we George? "Asked George

"Of course we don't Fred, what do you take us for, fools?" responded Fred

Everyone snorts in unison.

_**Mr Dursley was the director of a firm called Grunnings, which made drills. **_

Before Hermione could go into a huge explanation, Charity Burbage simply explains, "They are used in DIY to make holes."

Hermione closes her mouth, sulking.

_**He was a big, beefy man with hardly any neck, although he did have a very large moustache. Mrs Dursley was thin and blonde and had nearly twice the usual amount of neck, which came in very useful as she spent so much of her time craning over garden fences, spying on the neighbours.**_

As soon as the Queen gossips of Hogwarts, (Pavarti and Lavender) digest this information they let out shrill screams and Lavender begin to pale.

"What are you screaming about? They sound positively SEXY!" shouts Dean Thomas from the end of the table.

_**The Dursleys had a small son called Dudley and in their opinion, there was no finer boy anywhere.**_

Everyone who has seen Dudley cracks up laughing at the idea of describing him as small. It takes several minutes to calm them all down.

_**The Dursleys had everything they wanted, but they also had a secret, **_

"A secret Gred!"

"What is the secret Forge?"

"Someone tell us what the secret is!" Screamed the Weasley twins, loudly.

_**and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it. They did not think they could bear it if anyone found out about the Potters. **_

"Oh, we already knew that!" The twins said dismissively

_**Mrs Potter was Mrs Dursley's sister, but they had not met for several years; in fact, Mrs Dursley pretended she did not have a sister, because her sister and her good-for-nothing husband **_

Harry's, Remus' and Snuffles' teeth were clenched tightly together out of frustration and anger.

_**were as unDursleyish as it was possible to be. The Dursleys shuddered to think what the neighbours would say if the Potters arrived in the street. The Dursleys knew that the Potters had a small son, too, but they had never even seen him. **_

_**This boy was another good reason for keeping the Potters away; they did not want Dudley mixing with a child like that.**_

Questioning glances are sent around the room as Harry makes point of staring determinedly at the table.

_**When Mr and Mrs Dursley woke up on the dull, grey Tuesday our story starts, there was nothing about the cloudy sky outside to suggest that strange and mysterious things would soon be happening all over the country. **_

_**Mr Dursley hummed as he picked out his most boring tie for work, **_

"Humming whilst picking a BORING tie? That makes no sense at all! And that is coming from us." State the Weasley twins stubbornly.

"SHUT UP!" Yells Umbridge at the top of her croaky, toad like lungs. "Or you will have to be punished."

_**and Mrs Dursley gossiped away happily, as she wrestled a screaming Dudley into his high chair.**_

_**None of them noticed a large, tawny owl flutter past the window. At half past eight, Mr Dursley picked up his briefcase, pecked Mrs Dursley on the cheek, and tried to kiss Dudley good-bye but missed, because Dudley was now having a tantrum and throwing his cereal at the walls. "Little tyke," chortled Mr Dursley as he left the house. **_

Snickering once again emerges around the great hall.

_**He got into his car and backed out of number four's drive. **_

_**It was on the corner of the street that he noticed the first sign of something peculiar - a cat reading a map. **_

Suspicious looks are sent at McGonagall; after all everyone has seen her, animagus form.

_**For a second, Mr Dursley did not realize what he had seen - then he jerked his head around to look again. There was a tabby cat standing on the corner of Privet Drive, but there was not a map in sight. What could he have been thinking of? **_

The Weasley twins look desperate to say something but one look at the back of their hands forces them to stay quiet.

_**It must have been a trick of the light. Mr Dursley blinked and stared at the cat. It stared back. As Mr Dursley drove around the corner and up the road, he watched the cat in his mirror. **_

_**It was now reading the sign that said Privet Drive - no, looking at the sign; cats could not read maps or signs. Mr Dursley gave himself a little shake and put the cat out of his mind. As he drove toward town, he thought of nothing except a large order of drills he was hoping to get that day.**_

The twins look at each other and decide punishment is worth teasing and pulling pranks throughout the books. Besides if they were to read the fifth book Umbridge is bound to go to Azkaban.

_**But on the edge of town, drills were driven out of his mind by something else. As he sat in the usual morning traffic jam, he could not help noticing that there seemed to be a lot of strangely dressed people about. People in cloaks. **_

"Why is that strange?" Questions Malfoy, no one willingly answers the Slytherin Prince.

_**Mr Dursley could not bear people who dressed in funny clothes - the getups you saw on young people! He supposed this was some stupid new fashion. He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and his eyes fell on a huddle of these weirdoes standing quite close by. They were whispering excitedly together. **_

_**Mr Dursley was enraged to see that a couple of them weren't young at all; why, that man had to be older than he was, and wearing an emerald-green cloak! The nerve of him!**_

"The nerve of _**him**_" says Fred

"The _**nerve**_ of him" says George

"The _**nerve**_ of _**him**_" exclaims Gred and Forge bringing forth laughter

_**But then it struck Mr Dursley that this was probably some silly stunt - these people were obviously collecting for something... Yes, that would be it. The traffic moved on and a few minutes later, Mr Dursley arrived in the Grunnings parking lot, his mind back on drills. **_

_**Mr Dursley always sat with his back to the window in his office on the ninth floor. If he had not, he might have found it harder to concentrate on drills that morning. **_

_**He did not see the owls swooping past in broad daylight, though people down in the street did; they pointed and gazed open mouthed as owl after owl sped overhead. Most of them had never seen an owl even at night time.**_

_**Mr Dursley, however, had a perfectly normal, owl-free morning. He yelled at five different people. **_

"Only exercise he gets!" States Lee Jordan solemnly

_**He made several important telephone calls and shouted a bit more. He was in a very good mood until lunchtime, when he thought he would stretch his legs **_

Jaws drop around the room

_**and walk across the road to buy him a bun from the bakery.**_

People snap of of their shock and nod understandingly

_**He had forgotten all about the people in cloaks until he passed a group of them next to the baker's. He eyed them angrily as he passed. He did not know why, but they made him uneasy. **_

_**This bunch was whispering excitedly, too, and he could not see a single collecting tin. It was on his way back past them, clutching a large doughnut in a bag, that he caught a few words of what they were saying. **_

_**"The Potters, that's right-"**_

"_**That's what I heard yes -"**_

"_**Their son, Harry"**_

_**Mr Dursley stopped dead.**_

"Wahoooooooooooooooo!" Yelled the DA happily, whilst muggleborns rolled their eyes.

_**Fear flooded him. **_

"Maybe there is a dementor in the area?" suggests Luna

_**He looked back at the whisperers as if he wanted to say something to them, but thought better of it.**_

"He can think?" shouts the Ravenclaws

_**He dashed back across the road, hurried up to his office, snapped at his secretary not to disturb him, seized his telephone, and had almost finished dialling his home number when he changed his mind. He put the receiver back down and stroked his moustache, thinking... No, he was being stupid. **_

"First stage to recovery is admitting your faults!" exclaims Lee

_**Potter was not such an unusual name. He was sure there were lots of people called Potter who had a son called Harry. Come to think of it, he was not even sure his nephew was called Harry.**_

Pieces of the long unsolved puzzle begin to fit together in Hermione's mind and as she comes to a solid conclusion, she lets out a sharp gasp and stares horrified at Harry.

_**He had never even seen the boy. It might have been Harvey. Or Harold.**_

"Harold Potter was your grandfather's name." says Remus, informing Harry.

_**There was no point in worrying Mrs Dursley; she always got so upset at any mention of her sister. He did not blame her - if he had had a sister like that... **_

"A sister like what? My grandmother told me that your mother Harry was a well-mannered, polite, intelligent woman!" exclaims Neville. Leaving Harry, and many others, wondering how Neville's grandmother knew his mother.

_**But all the same, those people in cloaks... He found it a lot harder to concentrate on drills**_

"Because that's such a tragedy!" remarks Katie Bell sarcastically.

_**that afternoon and when he left the building at five o'clock, he was still so worried that he walked straight into someone just outside the door.**_

"How did they survive?" questions Angelina generally curious.

_**"Sorry," he grunted, as the tiny old man stumbled and almost fell. It was a few seconds before Mr Dursley realized that the man was wearing a violet cloak. He did not seem at all upset at being almost knocked to the ground. **_

_**On the contrary, his face split into a wide smile and he said in a squeaky voice that made passers-by stare, "Don't be sorry, my dear sir, for nothing could upset me today! Rejoice, for You-Know-Who has gone at last! Even Muggles like you should be celebrating, this happy, happy day!" And the old man hugged Mr Dursley around the middle and walked off. **_

The adults (minus fudge and Umbridge), older students, Harry, and his friends bow their heads in remembrance after realizing the day this chapter is set in. Not even the Weasley twins could think of a suitable joke to lighten the tension that had descended on the room.

_**Mr Dursley stood rooted to the spot. He had been hugged by a complete stranger. He also thought he had been called a Muggle, whatever that was. He was rattled. He hurried to his car and set off for home, hoping he was imagining things, which he had never hoped before, because he did not approve of imagination. **_

This line caused the Weasley twins, Lee Jordan and surprisingly Luna to pale drastically and fall into a dead faint across the table.

_**As he pulled into the driveway of number four, the first thing he saw - and it did not improve his mood -was the tabby cat he had spotted that morning. It was now sitting on his garden wall. He was sure it was the same one; it had the same markings around its eyes. "Shoo!" said Mr Dursley loudly. The cat did not move. It just gave him a stern look. Was this normal cat behaviour?**_

"No, but it is normal McGonagall behaviour!" exclaimed the Weasley twins, frightening everyone as no one noticed they had awoken.

_**Mr Dursley wondered. Trying to pull himself together, he let himself into the house. He was still determined not to mention anything to his wife. **_

"We all know who wears the pants in their relationship." remarked Alicia confusing some purebloods.

_**Mrs Dursley had had a nice, normal day. She told him over dinner all about Mrs Next Door's problems with her daughter and how Dudley had learned a new word ("Won't!").**_

The female adults looked repulsed at the thought of someone thinking that a child learning this word was impressive.

_**Mr Dursley tried to act normally. **_

"Key word is tried in that sentence!" Hermione announced in a conceited type of tone, jokingly.

_**When Dudley had been put to bed, he went into the living room in time to catch the last report on the evening news:"And finally, bird-watchers everywhere have reported that the nation's owls have been behaving very unusually today. Although owls normally hunt at night and are hardly ever seen in daylight, there have been hundreds of sightings of these birds flying in every direction since sunrise. Experts are unable to explain why the owls have suddenly changed their sleeping pattern. "The newscaster allowed himself a grin. "Most mysterious. And now, over to Jim McGuffin with the weather. Going to be any more showers of owls tonight, Jim?"**_

_**"Well, Ted,"**_

"That's my dad!" Tonks suddenly giggled.

_**said the weatherman, "I don't know about that, but it's not only the owls that have been acting oddly today. Viewers as far apart as Kent, Yorkshire, and Dundee have been phoning in to tell me that instead of the rain I promised yesterday, they have had a downpour of shooting stars! Perhaps people have been celebrating Bonfire Night early - it is not until next week, folks! However, I can promise a wet night tonight."**_

"Get your mind out the gutter!" exclaimed a furious Molly to a mischievous looking Fred and George who were snickering wildly.

_**Mr Dursley sat frozen in his armchair. Shooting stars all over Britain? Owls flying by daylight? Mysterious people in cloaks all over the place? And a whisper, a whisper about the Potters... **_

"He's putting it together," muttered a worried looking Molly.

"Many Muggles had to have their memories erased because wizards and witches alike were so careless!" snarled Mad-eye.

_**Mrs Dursley came into the living room carrying two cups of tea. It was no good. He would have to say something to her. He cleared his throat nervously. "Er - Petunia, dear - you haven't heard from your sister lately, have you?" As he had expected, Mrs Dursley looked shocked and angry. After all, they normally pretended she did not have a sister.**_

The Hufflepuffs' looked positively affronted by this; after all, to be a Hufflepuff you must be as loyal as sin.

_**"No," she said sharply. "Why?" **_

"_**Funny stuff on the news, " Mr Dursley mumbled." Owls... Shooting stars... And there were a lot of funny-looking people in town today... "**_

_**"So?" snapped Mrs Dursley. "Well, I just thought... Maybe... It was something to do with... You know... Her crowd. "**_

"Her crowd?" Shouted the majority of the hall.

"Filthy Muggles" spat Draco.

_**Mrs Dursley sipped her tea through pursed lips. **_

"Is that even possible?" asked Hannah Abbot and Susan Bones.

_**Mr Dursley wondered whether he dared tell her he had heard the name "Potter." He decided he did not dare.**_

"Wimp!" snickered Zacharias

_**Instead he said, as casually as he could, "Their son he'd be about Dudley's age now, wouldn't he?" **_

"_**I suppose so, "said Mrs Dursley stiffly. "What is his name again? Howard, isn't it?"**_

_**"Harry. Nasty, common name, if you ask me. "**_

"It only became a common name in the wizarding world after this particular night, along with Lily and James," reasoned Flitwick

"Why?" asked Harry

"Are you honestly that thick Potter?" wondered Blaise Zabini

"I'll explain later Harry," responded Ginny completely ignorant to Blaise's comment across the hall.

_**"Oh, yes," said Mr Dursley, his heart sinking horribly. "Yes, I quite agree." He did not say another word on the subject as they went upstairs to bed. While Mrs Dursley was in the bathroom, Mr Dursley crept to the bedroom window and peered down into the front garden. The cat was still there. **_

_**It was staring down Privet Drive as though it were waiting for something. Was he imagining things? Could all this have anything to do with the Potters? If it did... If it got out that they were related to a pair of - well, he did not think he could bear it. **_

"We can't bear to think of you but we have to!" snapped Colin defending his idol and his family.

_**The Dursleys got into bed. Mrs Dursley fell asleep quickly but Mr Dursley lay awake, turning it all over in his mind. His last, comforting thought before he fell asleep was that even if the Potters were involved, there was no reason for them to come near him and Mrs Dursley. The Potters knew very well what he and Petunia thought about them and their kind... He could not see how he and Petunia could be mixed up in anything that might be going on - he yawned and turned over - it could not affect them... **_

"He jinxed it," groaned Seamus who even though he did not believe Harry he still thought theses Muggles were repulsive and shameful.

_**How very wrong he was.**_

"Told you!"

_**Mr Dursley might have been drifting into an uneasy sleep, but the cat on the wall outside was showing no sign of sleepiness. It was sitting as still as a statue, its eyes fixed unblinkingly on the far corner of Privet Drive. It didn't so much as quiver when a car door slammed on the next street, or when two owls swooped overhead. In fact, it was nearly midnight before the cat moved at all. **_

People gaped at the animagus professor and Snape whispered to her "How do you stay that still for so long?"

"Years of practise." She muttered back grimly.

_**A man appeared on the corner the cat had been watching, appeared so suddenly and silently you would have thought he had just popped out of the ground. The cat's tail twitched and its eyes narrowed. **_

"Someone's gunna get it!" sang the twins in Harmony.

_**Nothing like this man had ever been seen on Privet Drive. **_

_**He was tall, thin, and very old, judging by the silver of his hair and beard, which were both long enough to tuck into his belt. He was wearing long robes, a purple cloak that swept the ground, and high-heeled, buckled boots. His blue eyes were light, bright, and sparkling behind half-moon spectacles and his nose was very long and crooked, as though it had been broken at least twice. This man's name was Albus Dumbledore.**_

"The best headmaster Hogwarts has ever seen" yelled the DA happily.

_**Albus Dumbledore did not seem to realize that he had just arrived in a street where everything from his name to his boots was unwelcome. **_

"Oh I did, I just did not care!" announced Dumbledore oblivious to the snickers from the students and the snarls coming from the fuming Umbridge.

_**He was busy rummaging in his cloak, looking for something. But he did seem to realize he was being watched, because he looked up suddenly at the cat, which was still staring at him from the other end of the street. For some reason, the sight of the cat seemed to amuse him. He chuckled and muttered, "I should have known."**_

_**He found what he was looking for in his inside pocket. It seemed to be a silver cigarette lighter. He flicked it open, held it up in the air, and clicked it. The nearest street lamp went out with a little pop. He clicked it again - the next lamp flickered into darkness. Twelve times, he clicked the Put-Outer, until the only lights left on the whole street were two tiny pinpricks in the distance, which were the eyes of the cat watching him. **_

"One of a kind." Interrupted Dumbledore before questions could be shot at him bring forth simultaneous groans of disappointment.

_**If anyone looked out of their window now, even beady-eyed Mrs Dursley, they would not be able to see anything that was happening down on the pavement. Dumbledore slipped the Put-Outer back inside his cloak and set off down the street toward number four, where he sat down on the wall next to the cat. **_

_**He did not look at it, but after a moment, he spoke to it. "Fancy seeing you here, Professor McGonagall." He turned to smile at the tabby, but it had gone. Instead, he was smiling at a rather severe-looking woman who was wearing square glasses exactly the shape of the markings the cat had had around its eyes. She, too, was wearing a cloak, an emerald one. Her black hair was drawn into a tight bun. She looked distinctly ruffled. "How did you know it was me?" she asked. **_

"Even we knew it was you Prof. Minnie" stated the twins.

"How many times have I told you? Stop calling me Minnie!" shouted McGonagall as Molly said "Have some respect you two!"

_**"My dear Professor, I've never seen a cat sit so stiffly."**_

"_**You would be stiff if you had been sitting on a brick wall all day, "said Professor McGonagall. "All day? When you could have been celebrating? I must have passed a dozen feasts and parties on my way here. "Professor McGonagall sniffed angrily. **_

"How does one sniff angrily?" questioned Luna curious.

"Like this!" replied the twins and gave a demonstration to the strange girl they had come to care for.

"_**Oh yes, everyone is celebrating, all right," she said impatiently. "You'd think they'd be a bit more careful, but no - even the Muggles have noticed something's going on. It was on their news."**_

_**She jerked her head back at the Dursleys' dark living-room window. "I heard it. Flocks of owls... Shooting stars... Well, they are not completely stupid. **_

McGonagall sunk lower in her chair as shocked looks were sent towards her.

_**They were bound to notice something. Shooting stars down in Kent - I will bet that was Dedalus Diggle. He never had much sense. "**_

McGonagall blushed and looked down slightly ashamed.

_**"You can't blame them," said Dumbledore gently. "We have had precious little to celebrate for eleven years."**_

_**"I know that," said Professor McGonagall irritably. "That is no reason to lose our heads. People are being downright careless, out on the streets in broad daylight, not even dressed in Muggle clothes, swapping rumours."**_

Mad-eye nodded in agreement bring forth a snort from Tonks who didn't even flinch when he suddenly roared "CONSTANT VIGILENCE!" at the top of his lungs causing many to fall out their seats I fright.

_**She threw a sharp, sideways glance at Dumbledore here, as though hoping he was going to tell her something, but he did not, so she went on. "A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to have disappeared at last, the Muggles found out about us all. I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?" **_

"_**It certainly seems so," said Dumbledore. "We have much to be thankful for. Would you care for a lemon drop? **_

"_**A what?"**_

"A what?" was the general outcry of the hall.

"_**A lemon drop. They're a kind of Muggle sweet I'm rather fond of"**_

"Oh."

_**"No, thank you," said Professor McGonagall coldly, as though she did not think this was the moment for lemon drops. "As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone -"**_

_**"My dear Professor, surely a sensible person like you can call him by his name? All this 'You-Know-Who' nonsense - for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort." **_

Harry sent pointed looks to those closest to him as they looked down.

_**Professor McGonagall flinched, but Dumbledore, who was unsticking two lemon drops, seemed not to notice. "It all gets so confusing if we keep saying 'You-Know-Who' I have never seen any reason to be frightened of saying Voldemort's name. "I know you haven't, said Professor McGonagall, sounding half exasperated, half admiring. **_

"_**However, you are different. Everyone knows you are the only one You-Know-oh, all right, Voldemort was frightened of. "**_

_**"You flatter me," said Dumbledore calmly. "Voldemort had powers I will never have."**_

"Only because you're too noble to use them sir" stated Hermione.

_**"Only because you're too - well - noble to use them."**_

Hermione blushed as her friends snickered.

_**"It is lucky it is dark. I have not blushed so much since Madam Pomfrey told me she liked my new earmuffs." **_

_**Professor McGonagall shot a sharp look at Dumbledore and said, "The owls are nothing next to the rumours that are flying around. You know what everyone is saying. About why he has disappeared? About what finally stopped him? **_

"Would you guys mind not interrupting until the next chapter now? I've got a feeling that this next part will be about the night I lost my parents." Harry muttered, smiling as they agreed without question.

"_**It seemed that Professor McGonagall had not reached the point she was most anxious to discuss, the real reason she had been waiting on a cold, hard wall all day, for as a cat nor as a woman had she fixed Dumbledore with such a piercing stare as she did now. It was plain that whatever "everyone" was saying, she was not going to believe it until Dumbledore told her it was true. **_

McGonagall nodded in agreement to the author's thoughts.

_**Dumbledore, however, was choosing another lemon drop and did not answer. "What they're saying," she pressed on, "is that last night Voldemort turned up in Godric's Hollow. He went to find the Potters. The rumour is that Lily and James Potter are - are - that they are - dead. "Dumbledore bowed his head. Professor McGonagall gasped. **_

Everyone but the obvious bowed their heads in respect for the lives lost that horrid night.

_**"Lily and James... I cannot believe it... I did not want to believe it... Oh, Albus... "**_

_**Dumbledore reached out and patted her on the shoulder. "I know... I know... "He said heavily. Professor McGonagall's voice trembled as she went on. "That's not all. They are saying he tried to kill the Potter's son, Harry. But - he could not. He could not kill that little boy. No one knows why, or how, but they are saying that when he could not kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that is why he is gone. Dumbledore nodded glumly. **_

_**"It's - it's true?" faltered Professor McGonagall. "After all he's done... All the people he has killed... He could not kill a little boy. It is just astounding... Of all the things to stop him... But how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?"**_

Many looked up at this wondering if they were finally going to find out how Harry survived when fully trained wizards could not.

_**"We can only guess," said Dumbledore. "We may never know. **_

"_**Professor McGonagall pulled out a lace handkerchief and dabbed at her eyes beneath her spectacles. Dumbledore gave a great sniff as he took a golden watch from his pocket and examined it. It was a very odd watch. It had twelve hands but no numbers; instead, little planets were moving around the edge. It must have made sense to Dumbledore, though, because he put it back in his pocket and said, "Hagrid's late. I suppose it was he who told you I'd be here, by the way?"**_

_**"Yes," said Professor**_

_**McGonagall. "And I don't suppose you're going to tell me why you're here, of all places?"**_

_**"I've come to bring Harry to his aunt and uncle. They are the only family he has left now."**_

_**"You don't mean - you can't mean the people who live here?" cried Professor McGonagall, jumping to her feet and pointing at number four. "Dumbledore - you cannot. I have been watching them all day. You could not find two people who are less like us. And they have this son - I saw him kicking his mother all the way up the street, screaming for sweets. Harry Potter come and live here!" **_

Harry chuckled darkly causing those who saw it to shuffle slightly away.

_**"It's the best place for him," said Dumbledore firmly. "His aunt and uncle will be able to explain everything to him when he's older. I have written them a letter."**_

Hermione looked outraged but refrained from commenting.

_**"A letter?" repeated Professor McGonagall faintly, sitting back down on the wall. "Really, Dumbledore, you think you can explain all this in a letter. These people will never understand him! He'll be famous - a legend - I wouldn't be surprised if today was known as Harry Potter day in the future - there will be books written about Harry - every child in our world will know his name!" **_

"Perfect Potter! Most likely waited on hand and foot." Muttered Draco jealously to Pansy who nodded her disgust.

_**"Exactly," said Dumbledore, looking very seriously over the top of his half-moon glasses. "It would be enough to turn any boy's head. Famous before he can walk and talk! Famous for something he will not even remember!**_

Harry sent pointed looks around the hall as many found the tops of the tables very interesting.

_**Can't you see how much better off he'll be, growing up away from all that until he's ready to take it?" **_

_**Professor McGonagall opened her mouth, changed her mind, swallowed, and then said, "Yes - yes, you're right, of course. But how is the boy getting here, Dumbledore?" She eyed his cloak suddenly as though she thought he might be hiding Harry underneath it. **_

Girls around the room looked disgusted.

_**"Hagrid's bringing him."**_

_**"You think it - wise - to trust Hagrid with something as important as this?" **_

"I'd trust Hagrid with my life … just not my secrets!" Harry muttered almost silently to the amusement of Ron and Hermione.

"_**I would trust Hagrid with my life," said Dumbledore. "I am not saying his heart is not in the right place," said Professor McGonagall grudgingly, "but you can't pretend he's not careless. He does tend to - what was that?"**_

_**A low rumbling sound had broken the silence around them. It grew steadily louder as they looked up and down the street for some sign of a headlight; it swelled to a roar as they both looked up at the sky - and a huge motorcycle fell out of the air and landed on the road in front of them. **_

The boys were practically drooling.

_**If the motorcycle was huge, it was nothing to the man sitting astride it. He was almost twice as tall as a normal man and at least five times as wide. He looked simply too big to be allowed, and so wild – long tangles of bushy black hair and beard hid most of his face, he had hands the size of trash can lids, and his feet in their leather boots were like baby dolphins. In his vast, muscular arms, he was holding a bundle of blankets. **_

"Why .. oh." Said Ron blushing at the incredulous looks being sent towards him.

_**"Hagrid," said Dumbledore, sounding relieved. "At last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"**_

_**"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sit," said the giant, climbing carefully off the motorcycle as he spoke. "Young Sirius Black lent it to me. I have him, sir."**_

_**"No problems, were there?"**_

_**"No, sir - house was almost destroyed, but I got him out all right before the Muggles started swarmin' around. He fell asleep as we was flyin' over Bristol. "Dumbledore and Professor McGonagall bent forward over the bundle of blankets. Inside, just visible, was a baby boy, fast asleep. Under a tuft of jet-black hair over his forehead, they could see a curiously shaped cut, like a bolt of lightning. **_

"Aww!" cooed the girls.

_**"Is that where -?" whispered Professor McGonagall.**_

_**"Yes," said Dumbledore. "He will have that scar forever. ""Couldn't you do something about it, Dumbledore?"**_

_**"Even if I could, I wouldn't. Scars can come in handy. I have one myself above my left knee that is a perfect map of the London Underground. Well - give him here, Hagrid - we had better get this over with. "Dumbledore took Harry in his arms and turned toward the Dursleys' house. "Could I - could I say good-bye to him, sir?" asked Hagrid. He bent his great, shaggy head over Harry and gave him what must have been a very scratchy, whiskery kiss. Then, suddenly, Hagrid let out a howl like a wounded dog. **_

Snuffles chose that moment to bark excitedly and chase his tale bringing on laughter.

_**"Shhh!" hissed Professor McGonagall, "you'll wake the Muggles!"**_

_**"S-s-sorry," sobbed Hagrid, taking out a large, spotted handkerchief and burying his face in it. "But I c-c-can't stand it - Lily an' James dead - an' poor little Harry off ter live with Muggles -"**_

_**"Yes, yes, it's all very sad, but get a grip on yourself, Hagrid, or we'll be found, " Professor McGonagall whispered, patting Hagrid gingerly on the arm as Dumbledore stepped over the low garden wall and walked to the front door. He laid Harry gently on the doorstep, took a letter out of his cloak, tucked it inside Harry's blankets, and then came back to the other two. **_

"You left him on a doorstep?" said Molly in a deadly whisper.

_**For a full minute, the three of them stood and looked at the little bundle; Hagrid's shoulders shook, Professor McGonagall blinked furiously, and the twinkling light that usually shone from Dumbledore's eyes seemed to have gone out. "Well," said Dumbledore finally, "that's that. We have no business staying here. We may as well go and join the celebrations."**_

Snuffles growled menacingly.

"You're thinking of celebrating after leaving a baby on a DOORSTEP at the start of winter with nothing but a blanket!" shrieked Molly going a vibrant shade of red "As well as the fact that death eaters were most likely searching for Harry after he had supposedly ended their master's life!"

"Molly I personally assure you -"

"That's not much of a confidence booster at this moment in time!"

"That there were warming charms and protections surrounding him, preventing any visitors who meant him harm from finding him." Dumbledore continued, acting as if he was not interrupted.

Molly sat down breathing heavily and still looking furious.

The hall was silent as the she-devil began to read in her croaky toad voice.

_**"Yeah," said Hagrid in a very muffled voice, "I'll be takin' Sirius his bike back. G'night, Professor McGonagall - Professor Dumbledore, sir. "Wiping his streaming eyes on his jacket sleeve, Hagrid swung himself onto the motorcycle and kicked the engine into life; with a roar it rose into the air and off into the night." I shall see you soon, I expect, Professor McGonagall," said Dumbledore, nodding to her. Professor McGonagall blew her nose in reply. **_

_**Dumbledore turned and walked back down the street. On the corner, he stopped and took out the silver Put-Outer. He clicked it once, and twelve balls of light sped back to their street lamps so that Privet**_

_**Drive glowed suddenly orange and he could make out a tabby cat slinking around the corner at the other end of the street. He could just see the bundle of blankets on the step of number four. "Good luck, Harry," he murmured. He turned on his heel, and with a swish of his cloak, he was gone.**_

_**A breeze ruffled the neat hedges of Privet Drive, which lay silent and tidy under the inky sky, the very last place you would expect astonishing things to happen. Harry Potter rolled over inside his blankets without waking up. **_

_**One small hand closed on the letter beside him and he slept on, not knowing he was special, not knowing he was famous, not knowing he would be woken in a few hours' time by Mrs Dursley's screams as she opened the front door to put out the milk bottles, nor that he would spend the next few weeks being prodded and pinched by his cousin Dudley... He could not know that at this very moment, people meeting in secret all over the country were holding up their glasses and saying in hushed voices: "To Harry Potter - the boy who lived!"**_

"Maybe a little break is needed?" asked Umbridge innocently earning death glares.

"No we will have a break after two more chapters." Answered Dumbledore cheerfully as usual.

_**AN: I'm sorry I have not updated in a while but you will most likely only get an update about once a month as I am extremely busy most days but I will try to get one up whenever possible.**_

_**Thanx for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! X **_

_**Review if you like I accept good and bad criticism.**_


	3. The vanishing glass

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters.**_

_**A/N: Here's chapter three. Enjoy.**_

Chapter Two: The Vanishing Glass

"Who would like to read next? "Questioned Umbridge.

Hermione's hand shot up into the air and, with much distaste, Umbridge levitated the book towards the eager student.

"**The Vanishing Glass."**Hermione read.

"I wonder what that means," Fred said.

"Not sure, but it could mean that Harry does some accidental magic," Remus said.

**Nearly ten years had passed since the Dursleys had woken up to find their nephew on the front step, but Privet Drive had hardly changed at all. The sun rose on the same tidy front gardens and lit up the brass number four on the Dursleys' front door; it crept into their living room, which was almost exactly the same as it had been on the night Mr. Dursley had seen that fateful news report about the owls.**

**Only the photographs on the mantelpiece really showed how much time had passed. Ten years ago, there had been lots of pictures of what looked like a large pink beach ball wearing different-colored bonnets- but Dudley Dursley was no longer a baby, and now the photographs showed a large blond boy riding his first bicycle, on a carousel at the fair, playing a computer game with his father, being hugged and kissed by his mother. The room held no sign at all that another boy lived in the house, too.**

Close acquaintances of Harry look shocked and worried.

**Yet, Harry Potter stilled lived there, asleep at the moment, but not for long. His Aunt Petunia was awake and it was her shrill voice that made the first noise of the day.**

"**Up! Get up! Now!"**

"Great way to wake up! Don't you think so?" Neville said.

"Trust me, it's not," Harry said.

**Harry woke with a start. His aunt rapped on the door again.**

"**Up!" she screeched.**

**Harry heard her walking back toward the kitchen and then the sound of the frying pan being put on the stove. He rolled onto his back and tried to remember the dream he had been dreaming. It had been a good one. There had been a flying motorcycle in it. He had a funny feeling he'd had the same dream before.**

"You remembered that?" Remus asked.

"Yeah," Harry said. "Why."

"It's just that at a year old, most people can't remember things that young," Remus said.

Harry just shrugged. He couldn't explain why he remembered that, he just did.

**His aunt was back outside the door.**

"**Are you up yet?" she demanded.**

"**Nearly," said Harry.**

"**Well, get a move on, I want you to look after the bacon. And don't you dare let it burn, I want everything perfect on Duddy's birthday."**

**Harry groaned.**

"**What did you say?" his aunt snapped through the door.**

"**Nothing, nothing..."**

**Dudley's birthday – how could he have forgotten. Harry got slowly out of bed and started looking for socks. He found a pair under is bed and, after pulling a spider off one of them, put them on. Harry was used to spiders, because the cupboard under the stairs was full of them, and that was where he slept.**

"What!" The women in Harry's life shouted.

Harry stares blankly at the wall as shell-shocked looks are exchanged across the hall. Umbridge stared triumphantly at Harry and thought to herself he deserves it the ungrateful brat. These muggles have the right idea.'

"How dare they make you sleep there," Hermione said angrily. "When I get my hands on them..."

"Those horrible, evil, stupid gits," Ron said angrily.

Remus was muttering a constant stream of curse words underneath his breath, causing Molly to look disapproving and the twins to stare at him in awe.

McGonagall, too, was glaring at the book.

Ginny was glaring and looking ready to curse something.

"Harry, how come you never told us?" Hermione asked, calming down slightly.

"I didn't think it mattered," Harry said uncomfortably.

"Of course, it matters, Harry," Hermione begun, but Ron shot her a look. If Harry didn't want to talk about it, then she should leave it alone.

"Fine, but we're talking about this later," Hermione muttered angrily.

**When he was dressed he went down the hall into the kitchen. The table was almost hidden beneath all Dudley's birthday presents. It looked as though Dudley had gotten the new computer he wanted, not to mention the second television and the racing bike.**

Muggleborns and a select few half-bloods gaped wordlessly at the book in Hermione's hand.

**Exactly why Dudley wanted a racing bike was a mystery to Harry, as Dudley was very fat and hated exercise – unless of course it involved punching somebody.**

"That better not mean you Harry," Cho said angrily.

**Dudley's favorite punching bag was Harry, but he couldn't often catch him. Harry didn't look it, but he was very fast.**

"That's not the point Harry!" grumbled Ginny.

**Perhaps it had something to do with living in a dark cupboard, but Harry had always been small and skinny for his age.**

"Nope, sorry Harry, but James and Lily were right midgets at school as well!" laughed Remus

"Damn!" Harry angrily muttered.

"Language Harry!" reprimanded Mrs Weasley and Hermione.

Everyone laughed as Harry pouted.

**He looked even smaller skinner then he really was because all he had to wear were old clothes of Dudley's and Dudley was about four times bigger then he was.**

**Harry had a thin face, knobby knees, black hair,**

"James" whispered Remus

**and bright green eyes.**

"Lily" Snape mutters almost silently looking slightly crestfallen.

**He wore round glasses held together with a lot of Scotch tap because of all times Dudley had punched him on the nose. The only thing Harry liked about his own appearance was a very thin scar on his forehead that was shaped like a bolt of lightning.**

"You used to like your scar?" Ron asked surprised.

"Yeah, it made me different to Dudley and it was something he could not take away from me. And then I found out how I really got it, and people stared staring at it all the time," Harry said.

**He had had it as long as he could remember, and the first question he could ever remember asking his Aunt Petunia was how he had gotten it.**

"**In the car crash when your parents had died," she had said.**

"What! James and Lily Potter die in a CAR CRASH! How dare they lie about something that important?" McGonagall shouted angrily. "He deserves to know the truth!"

"Before we experienced your temper Harry, we would have found that scary!" whispered Ron a little too loudly as both Harry and McGonagall glared at him, making him wince, and everybody else in the hall laughed.

"**And don't ask questions."**

**Don't ask questions – that was the first rule a quite life with the Dursleys.**

"But, how is he supposed to learn, if he can't ask questions?" The Ravenclaws questioned as they all took learning things seriously.

**Uncle Vernon entered the kitchen as Harry was turning over the bacon.**

"**Comb your hair!" he barked, by way of a morning greeting.**

"That won't work, trust me I've tried!" Mrs Weasley sighed gazing longingly at the messy hair.

**About once a week, Uncle Vernon looked over the top of his newspaper and shouted at Harry need a haircut. Harry must have had more haircuts than the rest of the boys in his class put together, but it made no difference, his hair simply grew that way – all over the place.**

**Harry was frying eggs by the time Dudley arrived in the kitchen with his mother. Dudley looked a lot like Uncle Vernon. He had a large pink face, not much nick, small, watery blue eyes, and thick blond hair that lay smoothly on his thick, fat head. Aunt Petunia often said that Dudley looked like a baby angel – Harry often said that Dudley looked like a pig in a wig.**

Everybody laughed at that.

"Good one, Harry," The twins said laughing.

**Harry put the plates of egg and bacon on the table, which was difficult as there wasn't much room. Dudley, meanwhile, was counting his presents. His face fell.**

"**Thirty-six," he said, looking up at his mother and father. "That's two less than last year."**

"Merlin, he's one spoiled brat," Ginny said.

"**Darling, you haven't counted Auntie Marge's present, see, it's here under this one from mommy and daddy."**

"**Alright, thirty-seven then," said Dudley, going red in the face. Harry, who could see a huge Dudley tantrum coming on, began wolfing down his bacon as fast as possible in case Dudley turned the table over.**

"NO! Not the food!" screamed Ron tearfully.

Many of the occupants in the hall rolled their eyes.

**Aunt Petunia obviously scented danger, too, because she said quickly, "And we'll buy you another two new presents while we're out today. How's that, popkin? Two more presents. Is that alright?"**

"That's not going to help, it will only make him worse," Professor Sprout said.

**Dudley thought for a moment. It looked like hard work. Finally he said slowly, "So I'll have thirty... thirty..."**

"Dear Merlin, he can't even count!" Lee said shocked.

"Are you really surprised Lee?" asked the Gryffindor chasers.

"**Thirty-nine, sweetums," said Aunt Petunia.**

"**Oh," Dudley sat down heavily and grabbed the nearest parcel. "All right then."**

**Uncle Vernon chuckled.**

"**Little tyke want's his money worth, just like his father. 'Atta boy, Dudley!" He ruffled Dudley's hair.**

**At that moment the telephone rang and Aunt Petunia went to answer it while Harry and Uncle Vernon watched Dudley unwrap the racing bike, a video camera, a remote control airplane, sixteen new computer games, and a VCR.**

**He was ripping the paper off a gold wristwatch when Aunt Petunia came back from the telephone looking angry and worried.**

"**Bad news, Vernon," she said. "Mrs. Figg's broken her leg. She can't take him."**

**She jerked her head in Harry's direction.**

**Dudley's mouth fell open in horror, but Harry's heart gave a leap. Every year on Dudley's birthday, his parents took him and a friend out for the day, to adventure parks, hamburger restaurants, or the movies. Every year, Harry was left behind with Mrs. Figg, a mad old lady who lived two streets away. Harry hated it there. The whole house smelled of cabbage and Mrs. Figg made him look at photographs of all the cat's she'd ever owned.**

"Sorry Hermione!" Harry stated before Hermione started a rant on animal rights.

"**Now what?" said Aunt Petunia, looking furiously at Harry as though he'd planned this. Harry knew he ought to feel sorry that Mrs. Figg had broken her leg, but it wasn't easy when he reminded himself it would be a whole year before he had to look at Tibbles, Snowy, Mr. Paws, and Tufty again.**

"Harry, that's not very nice," Mrs Weasley said sternly.

"Sorry Mrs Weasley" Harry said.

"**We could phone Marge," Uncle Vernon suggested.**

"**Don't be silly, Vernon, she hates the boy."**

"Why don't they ever call you by your name?" Neville asked.

"I honestly don't know," Harry said.

**The Dursley often spoke about Harry like this, as though he wasn't there – or rather, as though he was something very nasty that couldn't understand them, like a slug.**

"That's horrible," Ginny said.

"**What about what's-her-name, your friend, Yvonne?"**

"**On vacation in Majorca," Snapped Aunt Petunia.**

"**You could just leave me here," Harry put in hopefully (he'd be able to watch what he wanted on television for a change and maybe even have a go on Dudley's computer).**

**Aunt Petunia looked as though she just swallowed a lemon.**

"**And come back and find the house in ruins?" she snarled.**

"Do it, Harry!" The pranksters (past/present) shouted excitedly.

"**I won't blow up the house," said Harry, but they weren't listening.**

"Aww, your no fun," Lee whined.

"Sorry," Harry said smiling as he tried not to laugh.

"**I suppose we could take him to the zoo," said Aunt Petunia slowly, "... and leave him in the car..."**

"What is he, a dog?" Hermione said a little angry.

"Yes!" answered Pansy Parkinson.

The hall fell silent as the _HERMIONE GRANGER _replied with "Looking in the mirror again Pansy?"

"**That car's new, he's not sitting in it alone..."**

**Dudley began to cry loudly. In fact, he wasn't really crying – it had been years since he'd really cried – but he knew that if he screwed up his face and wailed, his mother would give him anything he wanted.**

"**Dinky Duddydums,**

Everyone laughed at that.

"That's hilarious, I almost feel bad for him," George laughed.

**don't cry, mummy wont let him spoil your special day!" she cried, flinging her arms around him.**

"**I... don't... want... him... t-t-to come!" Dudley yelled between huge, pretend sobs. "He always sp-spoils everything!" he shot Harry a nasty grin through the gap in his mother's arms.**

"Okay, not so much anymore," George said.

**Just then, the doorbell rang - "oh, good lord, they're here!" said Aunt Petunia frantically – and a moment later, Dudley's best friend, Piers Polkiss, walked in with his mother. Piers was a scrawny boy with a face like a rat. He was usually the one who held people's arms behind their backs while Dudley hits them. Dudley stopped pretending to cry at once.**

**Half an hour later, Harry, who couldn't believe his luck, was sitting in the back of the Dursley's car with Piers and Dudley, on the way to the zoo for the first time in his life. His aunt and uncle hadn't been able to think of anything else to do with him, but before they'd left, Uncle Vernon had taken Harry aside.**

"**I'm warning you," he had said, putting his large purple face right up close to Harry's, "I'm warning you now boy – any funny business, anything at all – and you'll be in that cupboard from now until Christmas."**

"**I'm not going to do anything," said Harry, "honestly..."**

**But Uncle Vernon didn't believe him. No one ever did.**

"That's so horrible," Lily said sadly. She hated the fact that her son had to live with these people.

**The problem was, strange things often happened around Harry and it was just no good telling the Dursley he didn't make them happen.**

**Once, Aunt Petunia, tired of Harry coming back from the barbers looking as though he hadn't been at all, had taken a pair kitchen scissors and cut his hair so short he was almost bald except for his bangs**

Lavender and Pavarti gagged.

**, which she left "to hide that horrible scar." Dudley had laughed himself silly at Harry, who spent a sleepless night imagining school the next day, where he already was laughed at for his baggy clothes and taped glasses.**

**Next morning, however, he had gotten up to find his hair exactly as it had been before Aunt Petunia had sheared it off.**

Lavender and Pavarti sighed with relief.

**He had been given a week in his cupboard for this, even though he had tried to explain how it had grown back so quickly.**

The all fell silent once again as tension began to build.

'Maybe Potter's life isn't so perfect after all' thought Snape but quickly shook that thought from his mind.

**Another time, Aunt Petunia had been trying to force him into a revolting old sweater of Dudley's (brown with orange puff balls).**

"That's ghastly," Ginny said.

**The harder she tried to pull it over his head, the smaller it seemed to become, until finally it might have fitted a hand puppet, but certainly wouldn't fit Harry. Aunt Petunia had decided it must have shrunk in the wash and, to his great relief, Harry wasn't punished.**

"Well, at least you didn't get punished, that's good," Padma said.

**On the other hand, he'd gotten into terrible trouble for being found on the roof of the school kitchens. Dudley's gang had been chasing him as usual when, as much to Harry's surprise as anyone else's, there he was sitting on the chimney.**

"You apparated," Remus said surprised.

"I don't think so," Harry said. "I think I might have flown."

'Just like Lily' thought Snape

"You can't fly by yourself, though," Remus said.

"Nothing is impossible, something's are just more difficult to achieve" Luna stated dreamily before going back to searching for wackspurts in between the candles.

**The Dursleys had received a very angrily letter from Harry's headmistress telling them Harry had been climbing school buildings. But all he'd tried to do (as he shouted at Uncle Vernon through the locked door of his cupboard) was jumped behind the big trashcans outside the kitchen doors. Harry supposed that the wind must have caught him in mid-jump.**

"That was a lousy excuse, Harry," Gred said laughing.

"We've got so much to teach him Gred," Forge replied, shaking his head solemnly..

**But today, nothing was going to go wrong. It was even wroth being with Dudley and Piers to be spending the day somewhere that wasn't school, his cupboard, or Mrs. Figg's cabbage-smelling living room.**

**While he drove, Uncle Vernon complained to Aunt Petunia. He liked to complain about things: people at work, Harry, the council, Harry, the bank, and Harry were just a few of his favorite subjects.**

"Huh, I wonder if he likes complaining about you," Ginny said sarcastically.

**This morning, it was motorcycles.**

"**... roaring along like maniacs, the young hoodlums," he said, as a motorcycle overtook them.**

"**I had a dream about a motorcycle," said Harry, remembering suddenly. "It was flying."**

"Not the most intelligent move, Harry. It looks as though you have inherited your dads brains," Remus said.

**Uncle Vernon nearly crashed into the car in front. He turned right around in his seat and yelled at Harry, his face like a gigantic beet with a mustache: "MOTORCYCLES DON'T FLY!"**

**Dudley and Piers sniggered.**

"**I know they don't," said Harry. "It was only a dream."**

**But he wished he hadn't said anything. If there was one thing the Dursleys hated even more than his asking question, it was talking about anything acting an a way it shouldn't, no matter if it was in a dream or even a cartoon – they seemed to think he might get dangerous ideas.**

"Dangerous? Unless it was a violent cartoon then you could not have got any dangerous ideas from it!" said Hermione in a know-it-all tone.

**It was a very sunny Saturday and the zoo was crowded with families. The Dursley brought Dudley and Piers large chocolate ice creams at the entrance and then, because the smiling lady in the van had asked Harry what he wanted before they could hurry him away, so they bought him a cheap lemon ice pop.**

"It was really nice!" exclaimed Harry.

**It wasn't bad, either, Harry thought, licking it as they watched a gorilla scratching its head who looked remarkably like Dudley, except that it wasn't blond.**

Everyone started laughing at that.

"Nice one, Harry," Fred laughed.

"Yeah! How come you're never this funny with us?" questioned George.

**Harry had the beast morning he'd had in a long time. He was careful to walk a little way apart from the Dursleys so that Dudley and Piers, who were starting to get bored with the animals by lunchtime, wouldn't fall back on their favorite hobby of hitting him.**

**They ate in the zoo restaurant, and when Dudley had a tantrum because his knickerbocker glory didn't have enough ice cream on top, Uncle Vernon bought him another one and Harry was****allowed to finish the first.**

"There was only a couple of spoonful's left anyway!" muttered Harry so softly that no one but Remus heard him.

**Harry felt, afterward, that he should have known it was all too good to last.**

"Here comes Harry's double sided luck," quoted Ron and Hermione in sync, and then they said "the book will explain." To the questioning glances.

**After lunch they went to the reptile house. It was cool and dark in there, with lit windows all long the wall. Behind the glass, all sorts of lizards and snakes were crawling and slithering over bits of wood and stone. Dudley and Piers wanted to see huge, poisonous cobras and thick, man-crushing pythons. Dudley quickly found the largest snake in the place. It could have wrapped its body twice around Uncle Vernon's car and crushed it into a trash can – but at the moment it didn't look in the mood. In fact, it was fast asleep.**

**Dudley stood with his nose pressed against the glass, staring at the glistening brown coils.**

"**Make it move," he whined at his father. Uncle Vernon tapped on the glass, but the snake didn't budge.**

"**Do it again," Dudley ordered. Uncle Vernon rapped the glass smartly with his knuckles, but the snake just snoozed on.**

"**This is boring," Dudley moaned. He shuffled away.**

**Harry moved in front of the tank and looked intently at the snake. He wouldn't have been surprised if it had died of boredom itself – no company except stupid people drumming their fingers on the glass trying to disturb it all day long. It was worse than having a cupboard as a bedroom, where the only visitor was Aunt Petunia hammering on the door to wake you up; at least he got to visit the rest of the house.**

Harry shifted uncomfortably. He was starting to get worried what Remus/Sirius were going to think, once they found out he was a Parselmouth until he realised that they probably already knew considering the fact that it was all over the Daily Profit the year before.

**The snake suddenly opened its beady eyes. Slowly, very slowly, it raised its head until its eyes were on a level with Harry's.**

**It winked.**

"That's kind of creepy," Luna said gaining many strange looks as around school she was known as the 'Queen of Creepiness'.

**Harry stared. Then he looked quickly around to see if anyone was watching. They weren't. He looked back at the snake and winked, too. The snake jerked its head toward Uncle Vernon and Dudley, then raised its eyes to the ceiling. It gave Harry a look that said quick plainly:**

"**I get it all the time."**

"**I know," Harry murmured through the glass, though he wasn't sure the snake could hear him. "It must be really annoying."**

**The snake nodded vigorously.**

The great hall was surprised to see Harry sitting calmly on the bench as if someone had not revealed some big secret before they too remembered the daily profit article.

"I must admit Harry, I have always wondered how you are a Parselmouth when neither your mother nor father was one?" questioned Remus finally.

"I can't say, you'll find out later," Harry said, not looking at one of his dad's best friends.

Remus nodded, not happy with waiting but content that he would, eventually find out.

"**Where do you come from, anyway?" Harry asked.**

**The snake jabbed its tail at a little sign next to the glass. Harry peered at it.**

**Boa constrictor, Brazil.**

"**Was it nice there?"**

**The boa constrictor jabbed its tail at the sign** **again and Harry read on: This specimen was bred in the zoo. "Oh, I see – so you've never been to Brazil?"**

**As the snake shook its head, a deafening shout behind Harry made both of them jump. "DUDLEY! MR. DURSLEY! COME AND LOOK AT THIS SANKE! YOU WON'T BELIEVE WHAT IT'S DOING!"**

**Dudley came waddling toward them as fast as he could.**

"**Out of the way, you," he said, punching Harry in the ribs. Caught by surprise, Harry fell hard on the concrete floor.**

"Leave him alone! You fat git!" Luna, surprisingly, said angrily causing Harry to smile softly at her.

**What came next happened so fast no one saw how it happened – one second, Piers and Dudley were leaning right up close to the glass, the next, they had leapt back with howls of horror.**

"What did you do?" The twins said excitedly.

**Harry sat up and gasped, the glass front of the boa constrictor's tank had vanished.**

"That is very powerful magic Harry" Dumbledore said still not looking Harry in the eyes.

**The great snake was uncoiling itself rapidly, slithering out onto the floor. People throughout the reptile house screamed and started running for the exits. As the snake slid swiftly past him, Harry could have sworn a low, hissing voice said, "Brazil, here I come... Thanksss. Amigo."**

"That was awesome!" Gred said laughing.

"It was, wasn't it Forge!" Forge said smirking.

**The keeper of the reptile house was in shock. "But the glass," he kept saying, "where did the glass go?"**

**The zoo director himself made Aunt Petunia a cup of strong, sweat tea while he apologized over and over again. Piers and Dudley could only gibber. As far as Harry had seen, the snake hadn't done anything except snap playfully at their heels as it passed, but buy the time they were all back in Uncle Vernon's car, Dudley was telling them how it had nearly bitten off his leg, while Piers was swearing it had tried to squeeze him to death. But worst of all, for Harry at least, was Piers calming down enough to say, "Harry was talking to it, weren't you, Harry?"**

"Little runt!" Ginny mumbled angrily yet hopeful as she too wanted Harry to smile at her the way he did to Luna.

**Uncle Vernon waited until Piers was safely out of the house before starting on Harry. He was so angry he could hardly speak He managed to say, "Go – cupboard – stay – no meals," before he collapsed into a chair, and Aunt Petunia had to run and get him a large brandy.**

**Harry lay in his dark cupboard much later, wishing he had a watch. He didn't know what time it was and he couldn't be sure the Dursleys were asleep yet. Until they were, he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for some food.**

"That's horrible, you shouldn't have to sneak around to get food," The Weasley parents said sadly.

**He'd lived with the Dursleys almost ten years, ten miserable years, as long as he could remember, ever since he'd been a baby and his parents had died in that car crash. He couldn't remember being in the car when his parents had died. Sometimes, when he strained is memory during long hours in his cupboard, he came up with a strange vision: a blinding flash of green light and a burning pain on his forehead.**

"You remember that much of that night?" Hermione questioned curious yet sympathetic.

**This, he supposed, was the crash, though he couldn't imagine where all the green light came from. He couldn't remember his parents at all.**

"That's because they didn't die in a car crash Potter." Sneered Malfoy though it lacked the usual malice as he began to see that Potter's life was not as perfect as he thought.

**His aunt and uncle never spoke about them, and of course he was forbidden to ask questions. There were no photographs of them in the house.**

**When he had been younger, Harry had dreamed and dreamed of some unknown relation coming to take him away, but it never happened; the Dursleys were his only family. Yet sometimes he thought (or maybe hoped) that strangers in the street seemed to know him. Very strange strangers they were, too.**

**A tiny man in a violet top hat had bowed to him once while out shopping with Aunt Petunia and Dudley. After asking Harry furiously if he knew the man, Aunt Petunia rushed them out of the shop without buying anything. A wild-looking old woman dressed in green had waved merrily at him once on a bus. A bald man in a very long purple coat had actually shaken his hand in the street the other day and then walked away without a word. The weirdest thing about all these people was the way they seemed to vanish the second Harry tried to get a closer look.**

**At school, Harry had no one. Everybody knew that Dudley's gang hated that odd Harry Potter in his baggy old clothes and broken glasses, and nobody liked to disagree with Dudley's gang.**

"We would!" exclaimed the DA.

Harry blushed and grinned shyly.

"Well, that was the end of the chapter," Hermione said "Who would like to read?"

_**AN:**_

_**I'm wondering whether or not I should put Harry with Luna. I must stress however, that no matter what I can just not put Ginny with Harry, I just cannot understand why A). Harry would date someone who looked so much like his mother and B). Why Harry suddenly decided he loved Ginny in the 6**__**th**__** book after she acted like an obsessed fan-girl for the first couple books. **_

_**I also need a pairing for Hermione. I was thinking of putting her with a Slytherin but what do you think? As long as it is not Ron, I am not bothered.**_


	4. The Letters From No One

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter or any of the characters.**_

_**A/N: Sorry it has taken so long for me too update, I've gone through a few things that have caused me to lose my confidence and passion for it but as people seem to enjoy it so much I have decided to continue posting this story. My other stories are on Hiatus until further notice though. I hope you enjoy this chapter. X**_

**The Letters From No One**

"I'll read." answered Luna in her usual imaginative state, as she got up to retrieve the book.

Returning to her seat, she stated, "The next chapter is called **The Letters from No one**."

**The escape of the Brazilian Boa Constrictor earned Harry his longest punishment ever. By the time he was let out of his cupboard again the summer holidays had begun.**

"How long was there to go before the summer holidays Harry?" asked Hermione as she began to feel frustrated once again.

"Between one and two months." Said Harry running his hand through his hair nervously, not noticing that this action caught the attention of many of the girls in the Great Hall..

"Between one and two months." screeched McGonagall, turning to Dumbledore with a glare that the Weasley twins knew very well.

**And Dudley had already broken his new cine- camera crashed his new remote control aeroplane and first time on his racing bike he knocked down old Mrs Figg as she crossed Private Drive on her crutches.**

**Harry was glad school was over, but there was no escaping Dudley's gang, who visited the house every single day. Piers, Dennis, Malcolm and Gordon were all big and stupid.**

"When I picture them all I see is Malfoy and his cronies!" Ron whispered not so quietly, causing Malfoy to glare at him viciously.

**But Dudley was the biggest and stupidest of the lot, he was the leader. The rest were happy to join in with Dudley's favourite game: Harry Hunting.**

"How about we play a game of Dudley hunting? Anyone in?" Hermione growled fiercely, causing a certain admirer to gaze at her, well for lack of a better word, admiringly.

**This was why Harry spent most of his days out of the house as possible as he could,**

"That's sad you had to leave your own home to avoid being beaten up." Molly stated, glancing at Harry sadly.

**Wandering around and thinking about the end of the holidays, where he could see a tiny ray of hope.**

"Why's that?" The twins asked curiously.

"Will you brats shut up?!" Yelled Umbridge loudly, causing several first years to shake in slight fear.

**When September started, he would be going off to high school and for the first time in his life he'd be going without Dudley as he had a place at Uncle Vernon's old school Smeltings.** **Piers Polkiss was going there, too Harry on the other hand was going to the district public school Stonewall high, with Dudley's other friends.**

**Dudley thought this was funny.**

**"They stuff people's heads down the toilets on their first day at Stonewall," he told Harry "do you want to go upstairs and practise?"**

"**No, thanks," said Harry. "The poor toilet's never had anything as horrible as your head down it – it might be sick." Then he ran, before Dudley could work out what he'd said.**

"Good one, Harry," Fred said, as everyone laughed.

"You definitely have your mother's cheek," Remus said, earning a grin of happiness from Harry.

**One day in July, Aunt Petunia took Dudley to London his Smeltings uniform leaving Harry with Mrs Figg. It wasn't as bad as usual. It turned put that since she broke her leg over one of her cats she didn't seem quite so keen with them anymore.**

"Well you wouldn't be would you" voiced Neville who did not like cats very much after the incident with Crookshanks stealing his list of passwords in the third years.

**She let Harry watch television and gave him a bit of chocolate cake,**

"Mm" moaned Remus.

**That tasted as if she'd had it for several years.**

"Poor chocolate!" Remus stated sadly gaining him many strange looks.

**That evening, Dudley paraded around the living room for the family in his brand new uniform. Smeltings boys wore maroon tailcoats, orange knickerbockers and flat straw hats called boaters.**

Lavender and Pavarti began to look faint at the idea of such a disgusting uniform existing and were suddenly glad for their plain black robes.

**They also carried around knobbly stick, used for hitting each other while their teachers weren't looking. This was supposed to be good training for later life.**

**As he looked at Dudley in his new knickerbockers, Uncle Vernon said Gruffly that it was the proudest moment of his life. Aunt Petunia burst into tears and said she couldn't believe it her Ickle Dudleykins; he looked so handsome and grown- up.**

"He really didn't" said Harry

**Harry didn't trust himself to speak. He thought he had cracked his ribs from not laughing.**

**There was a horrible smell in the kitchen in the morning.**

**When Harry went in for breakfast. It seemed to be coming from a large metal tub in the sink. He went to have a look. The tub was full of what looked like dirty old rags swimming in grey water.**

**"What's this?" he asked Aunt Petunia. Her lips tightened as they always did if he dared to ask a question.**

**"Your new school uniform" she said.**

**"Oh" he said "I didn't realise it had to be so wet,"**

"Sarcasm really doesn't work well on my Aunt."

**"Don't be stupid," snapped his Aunt. Im dyeing some of Dudley's old things grey for you, it'll look like everyone else's when im done.**

"Yeah sure it will," retorted Hermione sarcastically.

**Harry seriously doubted that it would but thought best not argue. He sat down at the table and tried not to think what he would look like on his first day at stonewall High – like he was wearing bits of old elephant skin, probably.**

"Albus we really need to talk about what you consider a safe place for a child to live and what you consider a dangerous place for a child to live." Professor McGonagall sternly stated.

**Dudley and Uncle Vernon walked in both with wrinkled noses because of the smell of Harry's new uniform.**

"You wouldn't have to smell it if you bought the boy the required uniform" snapped Molly.

**Uncle Vernon opened his newspaper as usual and Dudley banged his Smeltings stick witch he carried everywhere, on the table.**

**They heard the click of the letter – box and flop of letters on the doormat.**

**" Get the post, Dudley", said Uncle Vernon from behind his paper.**

**"Make harry get it"**

**"Get the post Harry"**

**"Make Dudley get it"**

**"Poke him with your Smeltings Stick Dudley"**

**Harry dodged the Smeltings stick and went to get the post. Three things lay on the mat: a post card from Uncle Vernon's sister, Marge who was on holiday on the Isle of White, a brown envelope what looked like a bill and a letter for Harry.**

**Harry picked it up and stared at it, his heart twanging like a giant elastic band. No one had, ever, in his whole life had written to him. Who would? He had no friends.**

"You must have been awful lonely," said Luna as she looked up from the current passage she was reading.

" It was actually" said Harry realising Luna probably knew better than most about how he felt.

**No other relatives – he didn't belong to the library so he wouldn't get any rude notes telling him to bring a book back. Yet here it was, a letter, addressed so plainly there could be no mistake.**

**Mr H. Potter**

**The Cupboard under the Stairs**

**4 Private Drive**

**Little Whinging**

**Surrey**

**The envelope was thick and Heavy, made of yellow parchment,**

"Do muggles use parchment?" asked Malfoy curiously.

"Not that you actually care, but for the record muggles right on paper which is much thinner and a lot lighter.

**And the address was written in emerald green ink**

**There was no stamp.**

**Turning the envelope over, his hand trembling, Harry saw a purple wax seal bearing a coat of arms; a lion, an eagle, a badger and a snake surrounding a large letter 'H'.**

**"Hurry up boy!" shouted Uncle Vernon from the kitchen. "What are you doing checking for letter bombs?" he chuckled at his own joke.**

"That was a joke?" scoffed the twins in disgust.

**Harry went back into the kitchen, still staring at his letter. He handed Uncle Vernon the bill and postcard, sat down and slowly began to open the yellow envelope.**

**Uncle Vernon ripped open the bill, snorted in disgust and flipped over the postcard.**

**"Marge is ill" he informed Petunia "ate a funny whelk…"**

**"Dad!" Said Dudley suddenly " dad Harry's got something."**

**Harry was at the point of unfolding his letter that was written on heavy parchment like the envelope when Uncle Vernon snatched it out of his hands.**

**"Hey that mine," said Harry trying to snatch it back.**

**"Who'd be writing to you?" sneered Uncle Vernon, shaking the letter open with one hand and glancing at it. His face from red to green quicker than traffic lights could.**

**And it didn't stop there. Within seconds it was the colour of greyish white porridge.**

Wrinkling his nose in disgust, Ron looked horrified at the thought of food looking so disgusting.

**"P-P-Petunia!" he gasped**

**Dudley tried to grab the letter to read, but Uncle Vernon held it out of his reach. Aunt Petunia took it curiously and read the first line. For a moment it looked as though she would faint. She clutched her throat and made choking noises.**

"Yes she might die," cheered Fred did not like her and yet again received a piercing glare from Umbridge.

**" Vernon! Oh my goodness – Vernon!"**

**They stared at each other, seeming to have forgotten that Harry and Dudley were still in the room. Dudley wasn't used to been ignored. He gave his father a sharp tap on the head with his Smeltings Stick.**

"Ha" laughed the DA.

**"I want to read that letter," he said loudly.**

**"I want to read it" said Harry furiously, " as it' mine."**

**"Get out both of you" he croaked, stuffing the letter back inside its envelope.**

**Harry didn't move.**

**"I WANT MY LETTER!" Harry yelled**

"You tell him Harry," said Remus smiling.

**"Let me see it!" demanded Dudley.**

**"OUT!" roared Uncle Vernon and he took both Harry and Dudley by the scruff of their necks and threw them into the hall, slamming the kitchen door behind them.**

Snape and Malfoy were both beginning to realise that Potter's life wasn't nearly as perfect as they once believed.

**Harry and Dudley promptly had a furious but silent fight to who would listen at the keyhole; Dudley won.**

"He was three times bigger than me, I was bound to lose!" Harry said defensively.

**So Harry, his glasses dangling from one ear, lay flat on his stomach listen at the crack between the door and the floor.**

**"Vernon," Aunt Petunia was saying in a quivering voice, "look at the address – how could they possibly know where he sleeps" you don't think there watching the house?"**

**"Watching – spying – might be following us" muttered Uncle Vernon wildly.**

**"But what should we do, Vernon? Should we write back and tell them he won't be going"**

**Harry could see Uncle Vernon's shiny black shoes pacing up and down the kitchen floor.**

**"No," he said finally. "No, we'll ignore it. If they don't get answer… yes that's best … we won't do anything …"**

**"But-"**

**"Im not having one of them in the house, Petunia!"**

"One of what" asked Ron confused

"Wizards" Harry answered seeing many of his friends and almost family members become angry.

"Why wouldn't they want a wizard in the family" asked Malfoy angrily.

To everyone's surprise Professor Snape was the one who answered the question "Some muggles, like the Dursleys, don't like the idea of magical folk believing them to be freaks that belong to a carnival or circus" he explained.

**"Didn't we swear that when we took him in we'd stamp out that dangerous nonsense?"**

**That evening when he got back from work, Uncle Vernon did something he never done before.**

"Decides to go on a diet?" Fred offered.

"Tells Dudley off?" George asked.

"No to both of them" said Harry with a grin on his face.

**He visited Harry in his cupboard.**

"He fit in?" question Dean in surprise making the others chuckle.

**"Where's my letter" asked Harry as soon as he squeezed through the door. "Whose been writing to me?"**

**"No one. It was addressed to you by mistake," said Uncle Vernon, " I've burned it.**

"How dare he? Receiving a Hogwarts letter is a giant milestone in a child's life!" shouted Molly.

**" It was not a mistake," said Harry angrily, " it had my cupboard on it."**

**" SILENCE" yelled Uncle Vernon, and a couple of spiders fell from the ceiling.**

Ron shuddered.

**He took a couple of deep breaths and then forced his face into a smile that looked quite painful.**

**"Er … yes, Harry – about this cupboard. Your Aunt and I have been thinking … your really getting a bit big for it … we think it would be nice for you to move into Dudley's second bedroom"**

"SECOND BEDROOM" screamed Hermione who was slowly turning a pink colour in the face. "He has two bedrooms while Harry sleeps in a blasted cupboard. I hate that bitch"

"Miss Granger no matter how angry you are I'm afraid that language is not tolerated at this school, therefore I am deducting 10points from Gryffindor." Said Dumbledore disappointedly.

**"Why?" said Harry?**

**"Don't ask questions!" snapped his Uncle " take your stuff upstairs, now."**

**The Dursley had four bedrooms the master, for Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia, one for visitors (usually Uncle Vernon's sister Marge), one where Dudley slept and one where Dudley kept his toys that didn't fit in his first bedroom.**

**It only took one trip upstairs to move everything Harry owned from the cupboard to his new room.**

**He sat down on the bed and stared around him. Nearly everything in here was broken. The month old cine – camera was lying on top of a small, working tank Dudley had once driven over the next doors dog. In the corner was Dudley's first ever television set, which he had put his foot through when his favourite programme had been cancelled. There was a large birdcage that had once held a parrot that Dudley had swapped at school for a real air – rifle, which was up a shelf with the end bent because Dudley had sat on it.**

"That boy must be seriously overweight," fretted Madam Promfrey who couldn't help but worry over the health of this child.

**" Over shelves were full of books. They were the only things in the room that looked as though they hadn't be touched.**

**" From down stairs came the sound of Dudley bawling at his mother: " I don't want him in there … I need that room … make him get out…"**

**Harry sighed and stretched out on the bed. Yesterday he'd have given anything to be up here. Today he would rather be in his cupboard with his letter than up here without it.**

"Hogwarts doesn't give that easily," said Dumbledore with that mad twinkle in his eye.

"I realise that" chuckled Harry.

**Next morning at breakfast, everyone was rather quiet. Dudley was in shock. He'd screamed, whacked his father with his Smeltings stick, been sick on purpose, kicked his mother and thrown his tortoise through the green house roof and he still didn't have his room back.**

**Harry was thinking about this time yesterday and bitterly wishing he'd opened the letter in the hall.**

**Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia kept looking at each other darkly.**

"Oooh the big bad wizards are going to get you!" moaned the twins spookily.

**When the mail arrived, Uncle Vernon, who seemed to be trying to be nice to Harry, made Dudley go and get it.**

**They heard him banging things with his Smelting stick all the way down the hall. Then he shouted, "There's another one! 'Mr. H. Potter, The Smallest Bedroom, 4 Privet Drive –'"**

**With a strangled cry, Uncle Vernon leapt from his seat and ran down the hall, Harry right behind him. Uncle Vernon had to wrestle Dudley to the ground to get the letter from him, which was made difficult by the fact that Harry had grabbed Uncle Vernon around the neck from behind.**

**After a minute of confused fighting, in which everyone got hit a lot by the Smelting stick, Uncle Vernon straightened up, gasping for breath, with Harry's letter clutched in his hand.**

**"Go to your cupboard - I mean, your bedroom," he wheezed at Harry. "Dudley - go - just go."**

**Harry walked round and round his new room. Someone knew he had moved out of his cupboard and they seemed to know he hadn't received his first letter. Surely that meant they'd try again. And this time he'd make sure they didn't fail. He had a plan.**

"Oh No! Harry your plans never work unless they are made in the heat of the moment" moaned Hermione and Ron in unison.

Harry opened his mouth to retort a comment before deciding they were probably right.

**The repaired alarm clock rang at six o'clock the next morning. Harry turned it off quickly and dressed silently. He mustn't wake the Dursleys. He stole downstairs without turning on any of the lights.**

**He was going to wait for the postman on the corner of Privet Drive and get the letters for number four first.**

**His heart hammered as he crept across the dark hall toward the front door - Harry leapt into the air; he'd trodden on something big and squashy on the doormat - something alive! Lights clicked on upstairs and to his horror Harry realized that the big, squashy something had been his uncle's face. Uncle Vernon had been lying at the foot of the front door in a sleeping bag, clearly making sure that Harry didn't do exactly what he'd been trying to do.**

"And this is where the plan fails!" Hermione informed the great hall.

**He shouted at Harry for about half an hour and then told him to go and make a cup of tea. Harry shuffled miserably off into the kitchen and by the time he got back, the mail had arrived, right into Uncle Vernon's lap.**

**Harry could see three letters addressed in green ink.**

"**I want – "he began, but Uncle Vernon was tearing the letters into pieces before his eyes. Uncle Vernon didn't go to work that day. He stayed at home and nailed up the mail slot.**

"Not the smartest of people is he" said Ginny.

"Nope" said Harry.

**"See," he explained to Aunt Petunia through a mouthful of nails, "if they can't deliver them they'll just give up."**

"**I'm not sure that'll work, Vernon." Said Aunt Petunia,**

**"Oh, these people's minds work in strange ways, Petunia, they're not like you and I" said Uncle Vernon.**

"Thank Merlin!" Praised Malfoy.

**Trying to knock in a nail with the piece of fruitcake Aunt Petunia had just brought him.**

**On Friday, no less than twelve letters arrived for Harry. As they couldn't go through the mail slot they had been pushed under the door, slotted through the sides, and a few even forced through the small window in the downstairs bathroom.**

**Uncle Vernon stayed at home again. After burning all the letters, he got out a hammer and nails and boarded up the cracks around the front and back doors so no one could go out. He hummed 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips' as he worked, and jumped at small noises.**

**On Saturday, things began to get out of hand. Twenty-four letters to Harry found their way into the house, rolled up and hidden inside each of the two dozen eggs that their very confused milkman had handed Aunt Petunia through the living room window.**

**While Uncle Vernon made furious telephone calls to the post office and the dairy trying to find someone to complain to, Aunt Petunia shredded the letters in her food processor. "**

**"Who on earth wants to talk to you this badly?" Dudley asked Harry in amazement.**

"Everyone who doesn't want to talk to you" retorted Luna.

**On Sunday morning, Uncle Vernon sat down at the breakfast table looking tired and rather ill, but happy.**

**"No post on Sundays," he reminded them cheerfully as he spread marmalade on his newspapers,**

"Why is there no post on Sundays?" asked Ron out of curiosity.

"Sunday is a day of rest for muggles, in the past muggles would visit a local church on Sundays out of respect for God who allegedly created the world in six days and used the seventh day as a way of rest. God is the Muggle version of Merlin in many ways." Hermione answered satisfying the curiosity of many purebloods.

**"No damn letters today - " Something came whizzing down the kitchen chimney as he spoke and caught him sharply on the back of the head. Next moment, thirty or forty letters came pelting out of the fireplace like bullets. The Dursleys ducked, but Harry leapt into the air trying to catch one.**

**"Out! OUT!" Uncle Vernon seized Harry around the waist and threw him into the hall.**

**When Aunt Petunia and Dudley had run out with their arms over their faces, Uncle Vernon slammed the door shut. They could hear the letters still streaming into the room, bouncing off the walls and floor. "That does it," said Uncle Vernon, trying to speak calmly but pulling great tufts out of his moustache at the same time.**

"He needs to relax," stated Remus.

**"I want you all back here in five minutes ready to leave. We're going away. Just pack some clothes. No arguments!" He looked so dangerous with half his moustache missing that no one dared argue. Ten minutes later they had wrenched their way through the boarded-up doors and were in the car, speeding toward the highway. Dudley was sniffling in the back seat; his father had hit him round the head for holding them up while he tried to pack his television, VCR, and computer in his sports bag.**

**They drove. And they drove. Even Aunt Petunia didn't dare ask where they were going. Every now and then Uncle Vernon would take a sharp turn and drive in the opposite direction for a while. "Shake'em off... shake 'em off," he would mutter whenever he did this.**

"You've drove him mad Harry," said Hermione with a smile and laughter in her brown eyes.

"Na he already was mad!" replied Harry honestly.

**They didn't stop to eat or drink all day.**

**By nightfall Dudley was howling. He'd never had such a bad day in his life. He was hungry, he'd missed five television programs he'd wanted to see, and he'd never gone so long without blowing up an alien on his computer.**

"Welcome to Harry's world!" said the twins seriously.

**Uncle Vernon stopped at last outside a gloomy-looking hotel on the outskirts of a big city. Dudley and Harry shared a room with twin beds and damp, musty sheets. Dudley snored but Harry stayed awake, sitting on the windowsill, staring down at the lights of passing cars and wondering...**

"I don't remember what I was wondering about but if I had to guess I'd say that it had something to do with letters mostly likely who was sending them." Harry said answering all the questioning looks from around the hall.

**They ate stale cornflakes and cold tinned tomatoes on toast for breakfast the next day.**

**'Scuse me, but is one of you Mr. H. Potter? Only I got about an 'hundred of these at the front desk." She held up a letter so they could read the green ink address: Mr. H. Potter Room 17 Railview Hotel Cokeworth. Harry made a grab for the letter but Uncle Vernon knocked his hand out of the way. The woman stared.**

" I'd stare too if that was me" stated Professor Sprout.

**"I'll take them," said Uncle Vernon, standing up quickly and following her from the dining room.**

**"Wouldn't it be better just to go home, dear?" Aunt Petunia suggested timidly, hours later, but Uncle Vernon didn't seem to hear her. Exactly what he was looking for, none of them knew. He drove them into the middle of a forest, got out, looked around, shook his head, got back in the car, and off they went again. The same thing happened in the middle of a ploughed field, halfway across a suspension bridge, and at the top of a multilevel parking garage.**

**"Daddy's gone mad, hasn't he?"**

"Daddy has always been mad Ickle Duddykins" spoke the twins in synchronisation.

"I FORBID ANYMORE INTERRUPTIONS!" Croaked the pink toad at the top of her lungs, causing many people to frown.

**Dudley asked Aunt Petunia dully late that afternoon. Uncle Vernon had parked at the coast, locked them all inside the car, and disappeared. It started to rain. Great drops beat on the roof of the car. Dudley sniveled. "It's Monday," he told his mother. "The Great Humberto's on tonight. I want to stay somewhere with a television." Monday. This reminded Harry of something. If it was Monday - and you could usually count on Dudley to know the days the week, because of television - then tomorrow, Tuesday was Harry's eleventh birthday. Of course, his birthdays were never exactly fun - last year, the Dursleys had given him a coat hanger and a pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks.**

**Still, you weren't eleven every day.**

**Uncle Vernon was back and he was smiling. He was also carrying a long, thin package and didn't answer Aunt Petunia when she asked what he'd bought. "Found the perfect place!" he exclaimed. "Come on! Everyone out!". It was very cold outside the car. Uncle Vernon was pointing at what looked like a large rock way out at sea. Perched on top of the rock was the most miserable little shack you could imagine. One thing was certain, there was no television in there. "Storm forecast for tonight!" said Uncle Vernon gleefully, clapping his hands together. "And this gentleman's kindly agreed to lend us his boat!" A toothless old man came ambling up to them, pointing, with a rather wicked grin, at an old rowboat bobbing in the iron-grey water below them.**

**I've already got us some rations," said Uncle Vernon, "so all aboard!" It was freezing in the boat. Icy sea spray and rain crept down their necks and a chilly wind whipped their faces. After what seemed like hours they reached the rock, where Uncle Vernon, slipping and sliding, led the way to the broken-down house. The inside was horrible; it smelled strongly of seaweed, the wind whistled through the gaps in the wooden walls, and the fireplace was damp and empty. There were only two rooms. Uncle Vernon's rations turned out to be a bag of chips each and four bananas. He tried to start a fire but the empty chip bags just smoked and shrivelled up. "Could do with some of those letters now, eh?" he said cheerfully.**

"Cocky prat" whispered Hermione to Ron and Harry's shock.

"Detention Miss. Granger, I believe I forbade everyone from speaking." said Delores with a sickingly sweet smile on her porky face.

**He was in a very good mood. Obviously he thought nobody stood a chance of reaching them here in a storm to deliver mail. Harry privately agreed, though the thought didn't cheer him up at all.**

**As night fell, the promised storm blew up around them. Spray from the high waves splattered the walls of the hut and a fierce wind rattled the filthy windows. Aunt Petunia found a few mouldy blankets in the second room and made up a bed for Dudley on the moth-eaten sofa. She and Uncle Vernon went off to the lumpy bed next door, and Harry was left to find the softest bit of floor he could and to curl up under the thinnest, most ragged blanket.**

"That's not fair," cried Ginny and Luna causing Ginny begin to glare fiercely at Luna, and the eccentric blonde witch to begin reading hurriedly.

Umbridge sneered at the two blood traitors distastefully before turning away once more.

**The storm raged more and more ferociously as the night went on. Harry couldn't sleep. He shivered and turned over, trying to get comfortable, his stomach rumbling with hunger. The low rolls of thunder that started near midnight drowned Dudley's snores. The lighted dial of Dudley's watch, which was dangling over the edge of the sofa on his fat wrist, told Harry he'd be eleven in ten minutes' time. He lay and watched his birthday tick nearer, wondering if the Dursleys would remember at all, wondering where the letter writer was now.**

**Five minutes to go. Harry heard something creak outside. He hoped the roof wasn't going to fall in, although he might be warmer if it did.**

**Four minutes to go. Maybe the house in Privet Drive would be so full of letters when they got back that he'd be able to steal one somehow.**

The students in the great hall snickered quietly, under the intense gaze of the high inquisitor.

**Three minutes to go. Was that the sea, slapping hard on the rock like that. And (two minutes to go) what was that funny crunching noise? Was the rock crumbling into the sea?**

**One minute to go and he'd be eleven. Thirty seconds... twenty ... ten... nine - maybe he'd wake Dudley up, just to annoy him - three... two... One...**

**BOOM.**

**The whole shack shivered and Harry sat bolt upright, staring at the door. Someone was outside, knocking to come in.**

"Who is it?" asked George excitedly.

"That is the end of the chapter," said Luna dreamily "Shall we stop and enjoy ssome lunch now headmaster?"

_**AN: I hope you enjoyed this chapter and believe it is worth the wait.**_

_**A poll will be going up on my profile to decide on the pairings for Harry and Hermione so please vote on it. If you have a pairing that I do not have listed as one of the ideas PM me or tell me in a review.**_

_**Thanx for reading,**_

_**LFHP x**_

_**P.S: Please Review**_


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